Ringer Spy Sam B sends along word of a Guiness advert that sounds oddly like a Ford scene we all know and love...

I saw the advert again the other day - have any of you seen a Guiness Advert, its in black and white, and there are several surfers and they are trying to ride this huge wave and on the crest of the wave are loads of white stallions just like in FOTR, it was just a thought that came to mind, perhaps LOTR was an inspiration there?

We were pleased when a good friend of Lawrence Makoare (Lurtz) who is also the Senior Prosthetics Supervisor for the Weta Workshop sent along these pics of Lawrence. Take a look, this man is HUGE! Thanks alot! [More]

Marie from 'Bloomin' Marvellous' sends along this error filled article from 'Starburst' Magazine. Still a good read, take a look!

As the first chapter of the eagerly-awaited Tolkien trilogy looms ever closer, we track down two members of the cast, Sean Astin and Orlando Bloom, and talk about their sizeable roles in The Lord of the Rings. [More]

Hi, today at my work (Waldenbooks) the employees received a flyer about the upcoming store events. The list included a Harry Vs. Hobbit list which you can see below. Why they would give this list to us employees is beyound me, other than to give us a good laugh. Enjoy! [More]

Comics2film is reporting that a Peter Jackson written script for the adaptation of the comic book 'Concrete' is in the works. No word if PJ will direct, not that he's busy or anything :) PJ, give me a shout!

Cate Blanchett was in Ireland yesterday, as she visited the office of Irish Independant newspaper journalist Veronica Guerin. Blanchett (Galadriel) was preparing for her upcoming role in the film "Chasing the Dragon" based on Guerin's murder in 1996. [More]

"Thank you to everyone who has emailed with concern about Sir Ian's wellbeing in New York City. He is safe and sound in midtown Manhattan. Our support and condolences go to the many families and friends affected by the destruction, and our appreciation to the thousands of extraordinary heroes."

You will notice today, a red,white and blue ribbon right next to TheOneRing.net logo at the top of the page. This ribbon will stay on the site for the next few months. It is our way to mourn and help those who were affected by the events in the United States a few days ago.

If you haven't already, click on this ribbon and please take some time to donate money, give blood, do whatever you can, to help the people in need. Keep them in your prayers and thoughts in this time of mourning.

Just wanted to make you aware that because of the terrible events this past Tuesday, the Warner Brothers Network is considering shifting it's Fall premiere dates. If this does occur, the premiere of "Angel" could be affected, which in turn means that the "LOTR World Premiere Preview" would not air on Monday, September 24, but instead air the following Monday, October 1st. Remember that this is all dependent upon if they do decide to shift their premieres.

T'nariel wrote in to say, "You might be interested to know that a Scottish paper, the Saturday Herald Magazine, is running an interview with Elijah Wood this weekend. I haven't seen it yet (it hasn't been published yet!) but the tag line was something like "It will be bigger than Star Wars. So will Elijah Wood live up to the legend that is Lord of the Rings?"

New Line Cinema and its Taiwan Distributor Mata Entertainment recently screened the Cannes footage in Asia, and also sent out some new publicity stills, which Dark Horizons have managed to snag. Check out these fantastic images of PJ and Christopher Lee in-between scenes in Orthanc, Gandalf at the Council of Elrond and a beautiful picture of Galadriel and Celeborn. [More]

I went to my local Carmike theater tonight to see a movie, and LOTR was featured not once, but twice, in the slide show that is presented before the previews begin (you know, the one that has various ads, movie facts and trivia, etc.). One "Movie Trivia" screen said (and I'm paraphrasing from memory here), "Andalusians, the breed of horses that are used as models for carousels, appear prominently in THE LORD OF THE RINGS." Another said, "Location scouting for THE LORD OF THE RINGS began a whole year before the start of filming." You know the movie release is getting close when the advertisers take it for granted that the general viewing public know what "Lord of the Rings" is without any need for explanation.

Calisuri is finally unpacking all his goodies from France, here is an amazing interview with the mysterious Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) and my personal favorite Sean Bean (Boromir). Check it out for some GREAT insights on both men, and characters. [More]

Canít tell a hobbit from an elf? Never been to Middle-earth? Never heard of Middle-earth? Fear not. Hereís a quick primer on a few things you wanted to know (or were too afraid to know) about J.R.R. Tolkienís The Fellowship of the Ring. [More]

There's a full page, color ad for Fellowship of the Ring in the Los Angeles Sunday Times Calendar section for Sunday September 9, 2001 on page 39. It is the new poster (party in boats headed away from viewer's pov at Kings of Arnor) and the caption is: THE LEGEND COMES TO LIFE.

Those folks at The Onion who always manage to walk the fine line between insulting and humorous have posted a short article poking fun at the Harry Potter/LotR fued (that the media is creating) with some of their usual wit. A good read! [More]

Ringer Spy Ciggie sends along TONNES of info regarding the Cannes footage screened in Australia. There is also a nice spoiler-free review here as well. Also, a little word on a possible Enya involvement. !Major Spoilers! [More]

With a heavy heart, we must choose to go on and continue to report the news from Middle-earth and beyond. We will of course keep the blood donor button up as long as it is needed, please, make use of it.

We at TORN are terribly saddened by the events in the United States on this day. I've taken a lead from Yahoo! and posted some links you can go to if you'd like to help out. We will continue to bring you the news from Middle earth tomorrow.

I woke up today in horror at the events in New York City and Washington DC. (Yahoo News) Its times like this that we need to step back from everything and think about the lives lost and the families affected.

On behalf of TheOneRing.net and its staff, I offer our deepest prayers and sympathies to everyone who is affected by this tragedy. Unfortunately, it seems our world is a lot darker today, and it is days like this, when I long for places like the Shire to escape this madness.

Please donate blood, volunteer, send money, do whatever you can to help the hundreds and thousands of families worldwide that will be affected by this tragedy.

Tolkien fans come from a wide range backgrounds and financial standing, so please help out with this cause if you are able.

Red Cross appeals for blood: 1-800-448-3543

ps - I was updating the latest news early this morning, if you wish to see the article, click here. [More]

"Then we got to take a look at the boxed games themselves, the rulebooks, and the miniatures... my God, the miniatures! They are breathtakingly well done. The ringwraiths in particular are *awesome* and the two different Aragorn figures we saw are the spitting image of Viggo himself." [More]

More reports are flowing in regarding the Lincoln Ceter event this past Sunday, here is something interesting regarding (highlight to read) the fact that Gollum may not appear in the first film at all...!Spoilers! [More]

A couple more reports from the coolness at the Lincoln Center this past weekend. The only REAL question is 'does Barrie love TORN enough to send us a copy of this footage? I think he should!!MAJOR SPOILERS! [More]

"Director Peter Jackson told Sci-FI Wire that he conceived of his upcoming Lord of the Rings film trilogy as one single movie. 'We really haven't divided the film into three parts that much in our minds,' Jackson said in an interview. 'We obviously have the three parts to release, one a year apart from each other, so in post-production we're differentiating part one, part two and part three very clearly." [More]

Hiya! Not really phenomenal, but the Fellowship Trailer (from May) was on E!'s show "Coming Attractions" this morning. The show airs again at 2pm (Pacific Time), though of course it's not necessarily going to be the same package of trailers, but it's still good odds for folks to nab a VHS copy of the trailer.

UPDATED

From Yoohoo Baggins:

The fellowship trailer will continue to show all this week it will repeat Friday, Saturday, Sunday & very early Monday morning 3:00 am or so. After that there will be a new lineup which may or may not include the Fellowship trailer.

Games Workshop's regular look at their upcoming Lord of the Rings miniature range this week focuses on "the free people" of Middle-Earth, a combination of Elven and Gondorian warriors, Elrond and Haldir! [More]

We've updated our cast page with pics and bios (all works in progress) from 3 new actors we discovered. As earlier reported, Peter MacKenzie will play Elendil, Martyn Sanderson is Harry Goatleaf, and Cameron Rhodes is playing Farmer Maggot.

The eight-week promotion celebrating the classic Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien and the soon-to-be released film from New Line Cinema, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, begins this month with an extensive number of bookstores participating. The promotion is the result of a cooperative effort involving Houghton Mifflin, New Line Cinema, Book Sense, and BookSense.com. [More]

Ringer Spy I've got Male sends along this news on just WHO is playing Lurtz...and why:

Just checked out some of the cast pages. Sala Baker also played Lurtz. After a break in the shooting of Lurtz, Lawrence Makoare wasn't available (shooting The Broken Earth, I think) so Sala took over the role.

(Interesting, I wonder if Sala played Arwen and Pippin as well..I heard he also plays 3rd Orc on the left... :) -Xo)

Recently, we have been getting a lot of positive reports on the Cannes footage from reviewers and the Hollywood/NY crowd. But what about the average Joe? Well, a new spy, who we'll call 'Average Joe' just sent us a small tidbit of feedback. It seems Average Joe was lucky enough to see both the completed film and hear the final music! NOT the Cannes footage but in fact the entire movie! (before you dismiss the report, we have confirmed he has done both) What does he say?

I know nothing about LOTR and the hype surrounding it but I was completely blown away with the sequences that I saw and with the music. It was fantastic...

Today..September the 10th 2001 is exactly 100 days until the worldwide premiere of LOTR:FOTR!! 100 Days and counting...I can't wait! For all of you who have written in asking us where our countdown clock is..I'll show you, just follow the link, we've had it up for months if not years! [More]